The present invention is directed to an apparatus for retaining a ball or other object that allows the ball to be coupled to a second object.
There are many instances in which two objects are used to cooperate with each other in some manner. For example, in many sports, balls are used which cooperate with other objects such as bats, racquets, gloves and the like.
These balls can have a variety of different shapes and sizes. In sports such as baseball, golf, tennis, and racquetball, the ball-type objects are spherically-shaped. In other sports, such as American-style football, the ball is oblong or oval-shaped.
When it is desired to play one of these sports, the participants must transport the ball or other object to wherever the game will be played, e.g., playing field, court, or course. Typically, the ball is transported by being carried in hand or in a device such as a box, bag, can, or case. Invariably, the objects are not visible within such devices and the devices have to be opened to determine if the appropriate ball is within the device. Moreover, the devices can be bulky or hold a plurality of such ball-type objects while only one such object is desired or needed.
In some sports, such as golf, the participants usually carry spare objects on their persons, in pockets or bags, as they play the game. This can be bothersome as the objects do not comfortably fit within one's pockets.
In sports where the objects cooperate with another object such as a bat, racquet, club or the like, it is highly desirable to keep the two objects together during storage and/or transportation. Due to their size and nature, the ball-type objects can easily be separated from the cooperating objects and become lost. This can be a great inconvenience if no spares are readily available. Moreover, it may lead to duplicative purchases if the ball-type objects are merely misplaced and simply overlooked.
These disadvantages are not limited to sporting apparatus, however, and can be found in other situations involving two cooperating objects, such as, for example, a wrench and a socket. Frequently, sockets are lost rendering the wrench body useless for certain applications. Similar concerns and disadvantages are also present in other situations where two objects do not necessarily cooperate with each other, but where it may be desired to keep them together, such as, for example, a bottle of suntan lotion and jar of sunscreen.